The
siege of Tal Afar follows a familiar pattern of brutal American incursions
into densely populated areas under the pretense of fighting terrorism. It
is a ritual that is repeated endlessly despite the dismal results. The
Pentagon seems to prefer these grand displays of military strength to
anything that might produce a political solution. It brings to mind the
old saw, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again: expecting a different result.” This appears to be the guiding
principle of the Defense Department with Tal Afar serving as the most
recent example.

In the present case,
a city of 250,000 has been almost entirely evacuated following weeks of
artillery bombardment, aerial bombing raids, downed power lines and water
systems, and house-to-house searches.

Ho-hum. Such paltry
events never even reach the front page of American newspapers where the
ceremony of American suffering is the only topic of interest.

The remaining
occupants of the city have reported the killing and maiming of innocent
women and children, the use of chemical weapons, and the predictable
destruction of Mosques and holy sites. In Tal Afar the Pentagon’s “Hearts
and Minds” program seems to be running in high gear.

There was no doubt
that Donald Rumsfeld would use the cover of Hurricane Katrina to mount a
massive attack in Iraq, and he didn’t disappoint. The military conducted a
10,000-man invasion only to find that the city had been abandoned and that
the Iraqi resistance had slipped away without incident. Not one foreign
fighter was captured during the siege despite claims that the city was a
haven for foreign terrorists.

Colonel Greg Reilly
told Al Jazeera that the resistance “went into hiding, avoiding us.
That’s why there’s no fighting….They are not putting up a fight.”

Did Reilly really expect the poorly armed
resistance to march into battle against Abrams tanks, helicopter
gun-ships, and F-18s? The resistance applied classic guerilla tactics and
“melted away” before they were confronted by the greater force leaving the
Marines with nothing to show for their effort except a few random
prisoners. Nevertheless, this hasn’t persuaded the Pentagon to modify
their plans of savaging the remaining cities in the Sunni heartland. They
still cling to the vain hope that increasing the violence will quash the
resistance.

Iraq’s Prime
Minister Al Jaafari has shown a surprising enthusiasm for Rumsfeld’s
blitzkrieg against the Sunnis. He gave the siege of Tal Afar his personal
blessing and said that the hostilities were being conducted “on his
orders.” He also announced that he was contributing thousands of newly
graduated Iraqi soldiers to the war-effort, even though his decision is
bound to be unpopular among the Iraqi public. Al-Jaafari has now put
himself in the same position as his predecessor, Iyad Allawi, who lost all
credibility when he authorized the invasion of Falluja.

This shows the
shortsightedness of the current plan. If Rumsfeld wants to pass off al-Jaafari
as a viable political candidate, he must appear to be independent of
American influence. By endorsing the attack on Tal Afar, al-Jaafari looks
like just another American stooge carrying water for the occupation.
Ultimately, this will undermine his legitimacy and disrupt the plan to
create a credible “Arab facade” to disguise the administrations
intentions.

There’s very little
to discuss about the botched siege of Tal Afar. The assault follows the
same basic blueprint of jackboot tactics we’ve seen in similar acts of
American aggression. Tens of thousands of lives were disrupted and
possibly ruined through forced evacuation, massive property damage has
been sustained throughout the city, the mayor resigned in protest of the
invasion, the public is more polarized than ever, 152 people were killed
in the bombing with countless others detained indefinitely, the resistance
fighters escaped unscathed, and the Red Cross reports that the offensive
has created a humanitarian crisis that is beyond their limited resources.

In other words, the
entire operation was an utter failure.

The media has kept
Tal Afar off the front page and framed the debacle as another crucial step
in liberating Iraq from the disparate forces of terrorism.

What nonsense. Apart
from the conspicuous immorality of the action, the stupidity is almost too
hard to bear. Tal Afar is simply a duplication of the same failed policy
we have seen over and over again for the last two years.

Has anyone in the
Pentagon ever read Che Guevara or any of the other classic tomes of
guerrilla warfare?

Why are the same
futile policies being replicated day after day when we already know that
they are doomed to failure?

Is the fog of hubris
so thick at the Defense Dept that they believe that the assault on Tal
Afar accomplished anything?

Rumsfeld’s simian
theories of warfare have proved to be the greatest boon to the burgeoning
Iraqi resistance. Like all headstrong amateurs he soldiers on; ignoring
adversity or experience, determined to demonstrate the wisdom of his own
narrow vision. Regrettably, that vision is comprised of nothing more than
ever-increasing levels of violence erratically extended across the region.

There’s nothing more
dangerous than a well-armed dilettante who is convinced of his own genius.
Tal Afar leaves no doubt about that.